Hill Assist Help(ESP Button)

[Wilkesy]

Basically just wondering how to activate the hill assist or make me aware thats it functioning after pressing the esp button.

I wasn't aware that I had hill assist and read the car manual this morning and it states if my car has ESP then I will have hill assist. There is a button in my car that states ESP on it so my guess is just press the button and it should function. The problem I have is how do I know its activated once pressed, because theres no button light or anything on the dashboard to show its turn on.

Picture of manual for the guide:

Cheers

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing, did you buy your car new or second hand, if the latter then maybe someone just fitted an ESP button?

ESP will automatically switch itself on when you next restart the engine even if you switched the car engine off with the ESP switched off, the switch is just a means to send a message to the car's controllers it will not be a switchable ON or OFF switch.

Have you checked the ABS block as I'm sure that it needs to have "ESP" written on it before you can assume that you have ESP.

 

[camelspyyder]

Pressing ESP button turns it off. Default is on.

If you have ESP, hill hold on these cars can be activated just a VCDS / OBD11 code change.

 

[Wilkesy]

Wait so turn engine on at the start of a journey and when pressing esp button it will deactivate hill assist ? Why add a button to turn on/off when it’s always on ?

The car is 62 plate Montserrat red FR, second hand. I am the second owner after buying the car a couple of weeks back.

 

[Wilkesy]

Pressing ESP button turns it off. Default is on.

If you have ESP, hill hold on these cars can be activated just a VCDS / OBD11 code change.

So pressing the button turns hill assist off?

 

[Wilkesy]

One thing, did you buy your car new or second hand, if the latter then maybe someone just fitted an ESP button?

ESP will automatically switch itself on when you next restart the engine even if you switched the car engine off with the ESP switched off, the switch is just a means to send a message to the car's controllers it will not be a switchable ON or OFF switch.

Have you checked the ABS block as I'm sure that it needs to have "ESP" written on it before you can assume that you have ESP.

So no need to press the button at all as hill assist will always be on no matter what? So the button is just there to show I have the hill assist on even without pressing?

Someone stated above pressing button turns it off. Need a deffo answer to I can put it in to use.

 

[camelspyyder]

Pressing the button turns ESP (traction control) off. I don't know about hill hold.
BTW hilll hold is a pain in the arse when parallel parking facing uphill.

 

[RUM4MO]

To start with, Hill Hold or Hill Assist needs the car to have a compatible ABS controller, as your car is an earlier version of this Ibiza you might not have the later version of ABS controller - so Hill Assist might not be possible by just changing the coding using VCDS etc - this you would have to look into.

The only reason to provide an "OFF" switch for a car equipped with ESP is to make moving and/or keeping moving in certain conditions possible, like ice/snow/gravel. On later cars the ESP "switch" is hidden within MMI settings - so not something that you can access quickly in my mind, that could be because most people will never find the need to want to use the inhibit function.

I have not tried this but I'd be surprised if switching ESP off switched off Hill Assist, but I am willing to be proved wrong.

 

[Wilkesy]

To start with, Hill Hold or Hill Assist needs the car to have a compatible ABS controller, as your car is an earlier version of this Ibiza you might not have the later version of ABS controller - so Hill Assist might not be possible by just changing the coding using VCDS etc - this you would have to look into.

The only reason to provide an "OFF" switch for a car equipped with ESP is to make moving and/or keeping moving in certain conditions possible, like ice/snow/gravel. On later cars the ESP "switch" is hidden within MMI settings - so not something that you can access quickly in my mind, that could be because most people will never find the need to want to use the inhibit function.

I have not tried this but I'd be surprised if switching ESP off switched off Hill Assist, but I am willing to be proved wrong.

Not sure tbh it states in the manual if I’m my car has esp then I will have hill assist, photo inside car:

 

[camelspyyder]

Try it out. Stop facing up a hill. Put the handbrake on. Ready to pull away, release handbrake. Does it roll backwards or not?

Although, our Ibiza can simulate hillhold with rusted on rear drums

 

[Wilkesy]

Try it out. Stop facing up a hill. Put the handbrake on. Ready to pull away, release handbrake. Does it roll backwards or not?

Although, our Ibiza can simulate hillhold with rusted on rear drums

That’s what I’m gettingat, I will give it a try this then if it doesn’t work, will pressing the esp button have anything effect ?

 

[camelspyyder]

Pressing ESP may turn it off. default is on.

 

[camelspyyder]

When all's said and done it's a rubbish function I'd rather not have.
Try parallel parking a Berlingo van with hill-hold on a 1 in 3 hill and you'll see what I mean.
It won't just roll backwards without cocking about into forward gear back to reverse and so on - Jeez!

 

[inbetweener]

Don't know what all this ESP chat is about. Hill assist has nothing to do with ESP.
Hill assist on the older cars is activated when you have your foot on the brake whilst on a hill. When you take your foot off the brake. The brake will hold on for a second longer to give you time to pull away without rolling back.
It is often confused with hill hold on the electronic parking brake systems. Hill hold will hold you on a hill regardless of whether you press the brake and it will stay held till you drive away.



Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[RUM4MO]

Yes Hill Hold with electric handbrake is basically handy, with these (Ibiza/Polo/Fabia) cars having a handle that allows you to control the handbrake manually is good! Some times when driving my wife's Polo, I deliberately make sure that I take my foot off the brake when stopping on level ground to avoid "Hill Assist" "helping" me!

Edit:- applying the electric handbrake when rolling to s stop with a car with electric handbrake should be avoided as it doe stop the car - very quickly!